Last evening, The Philadelphia School presented a new event – the very first Science Night – in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania's Project BioEYES and The Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM).

It was wonderful to see so many TPS families at this educational evening featuring the work of our 7th graders. The 7th grade launched its spring genetics unit with a week-long classroom experiment using live zebrafish, courtesy of Project BioEYES. In this hands-on lab, students bred varieties of zebrafish, predicted how certain traits would be inherited by offspring, and observed the embryos develop and hatch into swimming larva — in just five days! Students were able to observe first-hand the division of stem cells and the expression of particular genes.

It was a remarkable introduction to the world of genetics and to the real-life discoveries happening every day at the University of Pennsylvania.

At Science Night, 7th graders shared their research and discoveries, and families had the opportunity to use microscopes and other tools to observe zebrafish development. Families also met scientists in the field, including Kenneth Zaret, Director of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and learned how zebrafish research can apply to humans.

UPenn provided refreshments for all!

The Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is a collaboration between various schools across the University dedicated to to understand how cells and tissues are formed and to use the information to repair and develop new tissues to alleviate disease. IRM research includes the basis for the formation for new types of cells that occur in embryonic development as well as during the natural regenerative responses to tissue damage.